Barcelona FC have won every trophy under the sun in recent years, breaking world records, with a breath-taking style of fast-flowing technical football. If we add to this a certain level of fair-play, and 7 or 8 first team players being "home-grown", we have something special.

Real Madrid have a certain reputation for being a good, but arrogant team. And Barça's greatest rivals - for obvious reasons. For years and years their matches have represented the long-term "match" between Catalonia and Spain. Last season was especially exciting with each team pushing each other to the limit, breaking point-winning and goal-scoring records as they went. It went down to the wire, with Barça taking the League eventually - not surprising if we see Messi in action.

This year Mourinho and Cristiano Ronaldo (two "special" ones) have been added to the mix.

Fireworks are promised!

Check this year's match out, Monday at 21.00, just 24 hours after the Catalan elections.

So, let's re-live a few great moments as we wait for Monday to come. As the song says, Ja Som Campions (we are the champions)

A few lines on differences I have noticed between voting in Catalonia and voting in England.In Catalonia you have to show your identity card to do almost everything, which obviously includes voting. In England, you state your name, they cross you off the list, and you vote.

In England the poll clerks are paid volunteers. In Catalonia there is a draw made and if your name comes out, you have no option but to take part at a polling station, rather like being chosen for a jury. Having said that, the Bishop of Tortosa has got out of it on the grounds that he has a lot of work on a Sunday.

England chooses its MPs by a simple majority system in each constituency. Catalonia has a rather complicated proportional system in place. Catalonia is divided into 4 provinces with xx MPs per province. The votes in each province are shared out proportionally and allocated to xx names on each party’s list of candidates. All very fair, but you may not know whoever has got in for your party of choice.

The next point is more subjective. Maybe I am wrong but I think Catalans take politics more seriously than many Brits (myself included). Maybe it’s because democracy is still relatively new here (35 years)? People talk about politics daily, people have no qualms about stating their allegiance to a party. People still (in general) believe voting is a right which should be exercised as many lost their lives for this right. Politics also seems to have an “influence” in everyday matters. School inspectors, headmasters, hospital directors, council workers, etc – it is often known to which party they belong, and to whom they owe favours.

Finally, Catalans vote on a Sunday. The English on a Thursday. Legend has it that, being the last day before pay-day, it was the best chance of getting people to vote while still sober ...

Politics always brings me back to Billy Bragg. Here he is with To Have and Have Not.

I have now lived in Catalonia for 21 years, 21 law-abiding tax-paying European-citizen years, but still am not allowed a vote. Snif! This year, however, I have decided to put aside my habitual cynicism and choose who I would vote for if I could. However, I do not consider it to be choosing a party, but, instead, choosing an objective ... Maybe they will deceive me too, but, as they say, a change is as good as a rest.

So here goes for a brief introduction to Catalan politics:

Although Catalonia is kept on a tight chain by the State of Spain, it does have its own Parliament which has certain autonomic powers. As with most countries elections are held every 4 years, and time is up on Sunday. The Parliament has 135 MPs and is currently made up of the following parties, with a PSC-ERC-ICV coalition in power:

CiU (with 48 seats). A so-called nationalist party which, despite being in power since the 1980s, to 2003, only managed to get Madrid to offer Catalonia the scraps from the dining table but with no real progress being made from a nationalist point of view. They seem – to me- to be a political party with the sole objective of staying in power and obtaining more power for themselves, rather than thinking of long term visions for Catalonia. They are a centre-right party with conservative Christian roots. They consider themselves to be liberal (though not like the Liberals we know in the UK).

PSC (Catalan Socialist Party) (37 seats) is basically the Catalan arm of the Spanish socialist party and, hence, after 7 years in power seem to have achieved very little in the way of Catalan autonomy. In fact, things seem to have gone backwards after seeing the consequences of the problems with the new Statute.

ERC (Left-wing Republican Catalans) (21 seats) – firm believers in Catalan independence. However, 7 years of government have brought little or no progress.

ICV (Left-wing Green Catalans) (12) – believe it is time to re-write the Spanish constitution (unfortunately an impossible task if they cannot convince the Madrid Parliament first) so as to accept a federal vision of Spain, where Catalonia achieves much more autonomy. Personally, I think 30 years of democracy have shown that this is a road the Spanish state does not wish to take. Although they are ecologists, there have been a few too many “dodgy” decisions taken by them. Here’s hoping that the new generation coming in now, will put them back where they should be.

PP – Popular Party (14). right-wing conservatives. Think Aznar. Think Iraq. Spanish nationalists with no desire for loosening Catalonia’s ties with the state. Often fight in law courts to reduce some of the (limited) powers Catalonia actually has.

Ciutadans (3) – more or less the same but just in Catalonia. Claim to be in favour of freedom, which actually means more freedom for Spain, less for Catalonia.

These are the parties who currently have seats in the Parliament. Over 100 other parties will also stand in Sunday’s elections, with the usual bunch of Pensioners United, Free Cannabis, Happy Christians, Anti-Bull Fighting and so on, adding colour to the proceedings.

This time, however, two new Catalan parties (Reagrupament and SI) have emerged with definite possibilities of gaining parliamentary representation. Both have the independence of Catalonia high on their agenda. And the fact of the matter is, after the protest march in July, it is surprising how little attention the “traditional” parties have paid to this issue. Perhaps it is true that the people often lead politicians, rather than the other way round.

Of these two options, the one which has attracted my attention is Solidaritat Catalana (SI). This is a coalition of many smaller parties who have one thing in common. Independence. They are a mixed bag of lefties and right-wingers, but I believe their proposal is logical. First, let’s forget our policies, get together and aim only for independence. Afterwards, each can go their own way and the future of Catalonia will go to the left or right depending on the voters’ will. The point being, Catalonia can do very little to improve its economic, social, or cultural problems until it achieves the right to decide on these things (and act). Without independence, all we can do is moan to Madrid.

This coalition is led by Joan Laporta, ex-chairman of Barcelona Football Club – who won every title under the sun while he was in charge, and beat Real Madrid 2-6 at their ground!

SI firmly believe the time is over for begging and negotiating with Madrid. The only possible route is for 68 Catalan MPs (parliamentary majority) to decide to declare Catalan independence in the Parliament, a decision which would then need to be negotiated with Brussels, and the UN. Apparently this is the way taken by many other nations in recent years, and international and European legislation would throw up no barriers.

So what’s going to happen?

The Catalan elections are strangely biased in favour of the 6 parties already in Parliament as the others are not allowed a presence in the media. So, although SI could gain a lot of support in theory, it will be a struggle to reach the “masses” who get most of their information from the TV. Personally, I hope they manage to get into the Parliament. If they cannot get 68 MPs (between SI, ERC, CiU) this time, once this party is publicly established, maybe 2014 will be the year ....

Elections for the Catalan Parliament will be held next Sunday. Tomorrow I will write a post summarising my views on the different parties who hope to gain seats in these elections, but first the recent history of Catalonia in 3 seconds ...

Catalonia is a nation, one of the three or four which make up the Spanish State (known to us as Spain). With the re-introduction of democracy after Franco in the late 1970s, Spain drew up a new Constitution and new Statutes defining the powers and rights of Catalonia within the Spanish State. Many of the rights “awarded” to Catalonia have never been fully developed and the last 30 years have seen a constant tug-of-war between Madrid and Catalonia, with Madrid holding all the aces, such as the Constitutional High Courts. Catalonia has traditionally always been, together with the Basque country, the economic power house of the state. As such, it is a net loser economically when we see the money going to Madrid (in taxes), compared to that coming back (in investments). A loser to the tune of 20,000 million Euros per year. I am all for socialism and solidarity but there has to be a rational limit to this. Nowadays, other regions in the Spanish state have much better social services and/or public infrastructures, yet still this huge amount of money is siphoned out of Catalonia to subsidise them.To top it all, how we invest the money which does come back to Catalonia is restricted as Madrid retains control of many of the important aspects of political life.

On a cultural, national, level, the Catalans are a nation, taking in anyone who lives here irrespective of their birthplace. The Catalan nationality – it seems to me – is more of a thing you can choose to accept and be a part of for its positive outlook, than only being limited to genetic factors. Hard work, progressive, serious, but fun-loving, the Catalans are – in general – more modern thinking than other areas in the Spanish state. One of the main features of Catalonia, the Catalan language, the most important cultural connection we share, is also under threat from Madrid and the Spanish government.

Madrid promised to let the Catalans draw up a new Statute, with more powers and rights, in 2004. This was then passed in the Catalan Parliament, and in a public referendum. It was then drastically cut back in the Spanish Parliament, before seeing some of the most significant parts being wiped out by the Constitutional Courts. This led to a protest of over one million Catalans on the streets of Barcelona back in July. And this is the situation we are in, coming up to elections ...

Googling I am sure more info can be found, or if anyone has any specific questions I’ll take them after a short break for music.... Something Catalan, I like these:

The Battle of the Ebro ended 72 years ago this week. And just this week I have had the fortune and honour to hear one of the few survivors from that battle, the final grand battle of the Spanish Civil War. Thousands of lives were lost on both sides - for what?The democratically elected republicans who stood up against Franco's coup d'etat were a mixed bunch, and I am not going to be the one who says who was right, the marxists, stalinists, anarchists, republicans .... However, I like this anarchist song I found on Youtube - with English subtitles. 1936 by Sin Dios.

The arguments offered to support this incredible decision include the following – and my opinions.That the monument has been here for 40 years and forms part of Tortosa. In much the same way a derelict house or rubbish tip might form part, I’d say, but this is no argument for keeping it forever.That all Franco-ist symbols have been removed from the monument. This is not an argument, this is a lie. It has, very visibly, a gigantic eagle, typical symbol of fascists (and very easily distinguished from a dove of peace), and a Falange soldier. We could go on to discuss that every last rusty screw of the monument has, and can only have, the meaning that the artist gave it – an eulogy of Franco.That the immense majority of citizens of Tortosa wish for the monument to remain, and that there is no local interest in this question. Excuse me – the petitions, 45 % of councillors, different well-known local personalities, and the fact that young people discuss it on a daily basis seem to give the lie to that one.

Having said that, this is not the main question. Tha facte is that the local council are obliged to remove all Franco-ist symbology by law, a law passed by their very own political party in the Catalan Parliament.

I would also add as the most crucial point that it is not a question of what I, you, or the next person wants, but rather what should be done. We should think not of ourselves but of the thousands who really suffered in the Civil War or under Franco’s dictatorship. In 2010 we can do little else for the victims of Franco but this small step.

dijous, 11 de novembre de 2010

I per acabar, no podem marxar sense escoltar Somewhere Over The Rainbow. I "escoltar" vol dir escoltar, deixa de fer allò que estem fent, deixar de mirar els missatges i mails, i escoltem aquesta cançó de principi a fi. No us n’apenedireu.

Couldn’t finish without listening to this. And remember, "listening" means forgetting the other multi-tasks you are attempting to do, and sit back and listen to this from start to finish. You will not regret it.

More collections of the recordings Eva left us have come out since Songbird. Time after Time (2000), Imagine (2002), American Tune (2003), and Somewhere (2008). Is she only famous because of her tragic death? Judge for yourselves. I for one had no idea of her life story when I first heard Fields of Gold, and I immediately realised that I was hearing something special ....

During her lifetime Eva had never hit the big time outside of Washington or specialist music circles, but after her death another local artist and friend decided to put together an LP collecting some of her best work. Songbird came out in 1998. Two or three years later, Terry Wogan started to give this album a lot of airplay on BBC Radio Two and it started to take off. Ever since then, more and more people have come to recognise Eva’s voice and music for the treasure it is.

July 1996 and Eva starts to notice pain. The doctors soon realise she has a malignant melanoma, probably related to the malignant mole she had had removed 3 years previously. The cancer is so wide-spread that she is given months to live. Eva continues performing and recording when the pain allows it. She passes away on 2nd November 1996. At the age of 33.

The album she had been working on, Eva By Heart, comes out in 1997.From this LP, Songbird (McVie).

The Other Side received good reviews but didn’t hit the big time. Eva continued singing in the clubs of Washington, winning several vocalist awards. In 1996 she recorded her second LP, Live at Blues Alley. Sit back, listen, and enjoy ...

Eva Cassidy was born on 3rd February 1963. From a very young age she knew full well that her future would be linked to the stage and music. In the 80s she was involved in various musical projects, while keeping a day job to get to the end of the month. By the early 90s she was performing live in and around Washington DC – jazz, soul, blues, gospel ... The story goes that Chuck Brown heard a cassette recording of her and suggested they make an LP of duets, which led to the LP The Other Side – 1992. The most memorable and awe-inspiring track is perhaps Eva’s version of Somewhere Over The Rainbow, but we’ll leave this for later ... today we start with Dark End of the Street.

In this emotive video, Catalan writers, teachers, professors, historians, philosophers, artists express their desire that Franco's monuments should be removed from the river Ebro.

Among the reasons given are: what it represents (still today) for the victims of Franco's repression; how can we tolerate a monument celebrating Franco's illegal and cruel coup d'etat; would Germany and Italy have monuments referring to Hitler or Mussolini; although some Franco-ist symbols were removed, the monument itself represents what the sculptor wanted it to when he designed it; why should Franco and his works be considered a legitimate government of Spain; we are in the 21st century and Tortosa and the Ebre do not deserve this image; we do not necessarily need to destroy it as it could be stored in a museum for historical and educational reasons, or for anyone who still looks back on Franco with fond regards; we should forget Franco and build something in its place for the people, a new pedestrians' bridge or a monument for freedom ... Arguments for maintaining the monument in place? I'll wait for the political debate in Tortosa's next council meeting to hear what our Mayor has to say ...

I also include above a copy of my letter published in the local press this week. In one line, how can the capital of these lands, suffer this scar on the river Ebro with everything it means for us, as we move into the Europe of the 21st century. By the way, any monuments to Hitler or Mussoloine left?

Today's song - Viva la XV Brigade by Christy Moore about the International Brigades who fought for democracy while the English government washed their hands.

The right-wing political party in Catalonia and Spain has managed to get the use of Catalan, in Catalonia, to take a step back. The Constitutional Court has backed the PP in their insistence on restricting the use of Catalan. After 35 years of democracy and a constant struggle to protect the situation of the Catalan language, we have now gone backwards!Coinciding with this decision, the sad news as one of Catalonia's most important linguists, Joan Solà passed away last week.

Catalan believers in independence have made this lip-dub (mime) version of La Flama by Obrint Pas, with over 5,000 participants!! It's incredible, from start to finish.